“Mom, after someone dies and becomes a ghost, do they become a kid again?” My four-year-old asked me this just a day after I finished reading Atkinson’s book, Life After Life. “Well, some people believe that. It’s called reincarnation.” I told him, wondering if his earlier comment about how I should wear a certain necklace “the next time I got married” was related to this conversation. While I’m not sure Life After Life is about reincarnation, parallel universes, or a hybrid of both, it nonetheless […]
Downton Abbey meets the Butterfly Effect — and Hitler
Every once in a while I come across a book that takes me by surprise and leaves me feeling unsure of how I really feel about it. This was one of those. I’m not even sure how to categorize this book, to be quite honest. Last Tuesday I got an email from Meetup about a newly formed book club in a neighbouring town, which was to have its first meeting three days after the meeting of my current book club (I was still rushing to get […]
Do not be a curly-haired blonde in a Kate Atkinson novel
So I read Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life last year, and despite the amazing reviews it got, I just did not like it. It was depressing, the main character keep dying over and over (which I know was the whole point, but gawd), and I just could not enjoy it. But I liked Atkinson’s style of writing, and Stephen King, of all people, recommends her over and over, so I thought I’d give it another shot. “Patricia embraces me on the station platform. ‘The past […]
Reincarnation meets Groundhog Day….
Not my ideal choice for a first pick, but it was a book club selection that I was supposed to have read back in Nov/Dec, and I’m nothing if not an extraordinary procrastinator. I persevered through this with the gusto of someone who is determined to stick with a New Years Resolution. If I picked this up in October, I couldn’t guarantee the same enthusiasm. Life After Life was one of those books that I finished and said, “I think I liked it? Maybe? I […]
Engrossing But Not A Favorite
Quick Take-Away: On the cusp of four stars, but something didn’t click for me. The middle 350 pages or so really pulled me in, but I felt that the last 50 pages fell short. Longer Review (with the mildest of spoilers): The writing in this book is beautiful. I believe this is the first of Ms. Atkinson’s books I have read, but I gather she is someone known for her prose. The premise of the book, for those who are unfamiliar, is that Ursula is […]
The Realities of War and Family
I picked up Life After Life by Kate Atkinson despite some trepidation about the Groundhog Day premise but was ultimately impressed. When I started seeing A God in Ruins (2015) on bookshelves, I was eager to read another book by Atkinson. However, I was yet again put off by the premise. I was surprised that Atkinson chose to write about the Todd family, the same family that she’d focused on in her previous book. Specifically, she focuses on Teddy, Ursula’s younger brother and a pilot in the […]
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